La Fiesta exploring downtown grocery store

SAHA’s Dan Martinez looks at the vacant property at Cesar Chávez Boulevard and Labor Street that’s being considered for a La Fiesta store.

Count La Fiesta among the grocery companies interested in a downtown store.

Ronnie Catlett, La Fiesta’s general manager and vice president, confirmed Monday his company is interested in leasing space in a future development by the San Antonio Housing Authority at Cesar Chávez Boulevard and Labor Street, across from SAHA’s Victoria Commons housing complex.

New mixed-use construction is planned for vacant land there, intended to complement SAHA’s new development to the east and the rest of the Lavaca neighborhood to the south.

“We’re definitely interested in being down there,” Catlett said. “Obviously, the numbers have to work for everybody. We all feel there’s a need for a downtown grocery store, but this industry is a penny industry. It’s very difficult to make any money, and somewhat difficult to break even. Downtown — with real estate prices and building a store — it’s definitely hard to make the numbers work.”

“The average medium incomes down there — there are some way above average and some way below,” Catlett said.

He said he has talked with SAHA several times about the possibility of a store at Chávez and Labor. SAHA is still in the process of crafting its master plan for the area, which will dictate what kind of retail will be introduced there.

The city is offering a $1 million cash incentive for a company to build a downtown grocery store. Mayor Julián Castro has confirmed that a request for information (a kind of bidding process for the $1 million) will be issued soon.

Catlett said La Fiesta likely will pursue the $1 million city incentive.

“I think (the city) already knows we’re interested,” he said. “But, yes, we’d be interested in putting our name in the hat.”

Catlett said La Fiesta has several models to work from, but a 20,000 square foot store makes the most sense on the edge of Lavaca. A city-commissioned study, which is scheduled to be released in February, concludes that downtown can support a store of that size.

“We have a 13,000- and a 43,000-square-foot store,” he said. “It would be based on what might be the need of the community there.”